Both Freshmen Crews Capture Gold at EARC Sprints

May 15, 2005

May 15, 2005

Worcester, MA -
Both of Brown's freshmen eight crews captured gold medals at the 2005 EARC Sprint Championships on Lake Quinsigamond on Sunday. Both boats entered the weekend as the top seeds as the two won their morning heats to advance to the grand finals. Brown's varsity eight placed fifth in the grand final after placing second behind top seeded Harvard in its highly contested morning heat. The second varsity eight posted a fifth place finish in the petite final.

In the varsity eight heat, the Bears held their ground, finishing in a time of 5:40.478, good for second. Defending national champion Harvard had a winning time of 5:38.043. The Crimson repeated as the varsity eight champions with a first place finish in the grand final race as the Bears finished fifth out of six.

The Bears' second freshmen squad, which won the gold last year as well, breezed past the competition in their heat, winning by over seven seconds. The first freshmen crew beat out Boston University by over two second to earn a first place finish in its morning heat.

In the finals race, the first frosh edged out second place finisher Princeton 5:41.782-5:42.755. Second seeded Harvard placed third while Penn finished fourth. The second freshmen squad cruised to gold in its grand final, rowing its way to a nearly six second victory over the second seeded Crimson. Third seeded Navy finished a distant third.

The second varsity eight boat placed fourth in its morning final as Harvard won and Navy and Wisconsin finished in dead heat tie for second. The petite final was won by Boston University as the 12th seeded Bears finished last.

Complete results and times from the 2005 EARC Sprints can be found here.